ComScore reports top ticket sites for August

ComScore Media Metrix has released a report on the top ticket sites of August 2005 compared to August 2006. The biggest change from this year to last was secondary ticket site TicketLiquidator.com.

"We’ve seen the emergence of some players who saw an increase in traffic," said Executive Vice President of ComScore Jack Flannigan. "Ticket Liquidator went from about 600,000 to 2.1 million visitors, which represents a 238 percent increase."

ComScore has been tracking online media trends since 1995, and is the industry leader in the space. It is the company to which most publications and sites turn, to understand the Internet and to track it, Flannigan said. "This is largely due to our client base and overall citation within the industry."

"Online ticketing has become more popular over the years," Flannigan said. "Currently there are 38.3 million people visiting online and specifically looking for ticketing information on sporting, concert as well as movie tickets."

TicketLiquidator.com ranks second in the secondary ticket industry, according to the ComScore report.

"It’s a combination of advertising and word of mouth," Flannigan said of the changes over the past year. "As sites continue to build up services an improve the user experience, it’s a great opportunity to expand and people who like the service will refer and recommend it to other people."

TicketLiquidator can attribute much of their success to these efforts. The site has implemented a number of changes over the past year, said Ticket Liquidator Executive Vice President of Business Development, Nick Eve. "We think [the rating] is due to the great low prices and the good service. There are things TicketLiquidator does within the ticket space which are unique."

The site offers customers directions, restaurant recommendations and weather forecasts before an event, and then follows up afterwards with an email that connects customers with a whole system to allow them to share their stories.

"People who go to shows are very excited, and we give them the opportunity to share their great experience with their own sports, concerts or theater related blogs."

‘PluggedIn’ is a new section of the site that offers forums, columns, contests and polls for users to share their concert experience with others.

"We have lots of hard-core fans who come back and buy tickets. We’re having a photo contest right now, and with the stuff we’re selling people get a memorable, lifetime experience that you can see on the site," Eve said.

ComScore has a US panel of users to track ongoing trends, according to Flannigan.

"There are currently 100,000 people under measurement from the home, work, college and university environment," he said. "We randomly recruit users by phone and online, and they agree to let us profile their demographic standing. We proxy them to track them in real time and track where they go."

With the data gathered from these users, the report is formulated. This month’s comparison between August of 2005 shows Ticketmaster at number one, followed second by Stubhub.com and then TicketLiquidator.com.

Another notable change can be found in the ticketing site OnlineSeats.com, which saw a 91 percent change in unique visitors since last year. In July of 2005 the site had 154,000 users, and this year it saw 294,000.

"We’ve also seen some newer players showing up on our radar," Flannigan said.

Some of these sites are JumboTickets.com and 1-800-Best-Seats, who came in just below the Top 10 ranked sites, though they had no data from last year to compare.